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Pope Leo XIII's Arcanum [excerpts]
Pope Leo XIII
- "29. Truly, it is hardly possible to describe
how great are the evils that flow from divorce. Matrimonial contracts are by
it made variable; mutual kindness is weakened; deplorable inducements to
unfaithfulness are supplied; harm is done to the education and training of
children; occasion is afforded for the breaking up of homes; the seeds of
dissension are sown among families; the dignity of womanhood is lessened and
brought low, and women run the risk of being deserted after having ministered
to the pleasures of men. Since, then, nothing has such power to lay waste
families and destroy the mainstay of kingdoms as the corruption of morals, it
is easily seen that divorces are in the highest degree hostile to the
prosperity of families and States....
- "34....the supreme
pontiffs have resisted the most powerful...rulers, in their threatening
demands that divorces...be confirmed by the Church...[they] have been contending for the safety, not only
of religion, but also of the human race. For this reason all generations of
men will admire the proofs of unbending courage which are to be found in the
decrees of ....[e.g.,] Clement VII and Paul III against Henry VIII....all rulers and administrators of the State who are desirous of
following the dictates of reason and wisdom, and anxious for the good of their
people, ought to make up their minds to keep the holy laws of marriage intact....
- "41....no power can dissolve the bond of Christian marriage whenever
this has been ratified and consummated; and that, of a consequence, those
husbands and wives are guilty of a manifest crime who plan, for whatever
reason, to be united in a second marriage before the first one has been ended
by death. When, indeed, matters have come to such a pitch that it seems
impossible for them to live together any longer, then the Church allows them
to live apart, and strives at the same time to soften the evils of this
separation by such remedies and helps as are suited to their condition; yet
she never ceases to endeavor to bring about a reconciliation....
- "44....We commend, venerable brothers, to your
fidelity and piety those unhappy persons who, carried away by the heat of
passion, and being utterly indifferent to their salvation, live wickedly
together without the bond of lawful marriage. Let your utmost care be
exercised in bringing such persons back to their duty; and, both by your own
efforts and by those of good men who will consent to help you, strive by every
means that they may see how wrongly they have acted; that they may do penance;
and that they may be induced to enter into a lawful marriage according to the
Catholic rite.
- "45. You will at once see, venerable
brothers, that the doctrine and precepts in relation to Christian marriage,
which We have thought good to communicate to you in this letter, tend no less
to the preservation of civil society than to the everlasting salvation of
souls" (Pope Leo XIII, Arcanum, 2/10/1880).
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